This was a big shoot with Toybox Films, consisting of five locations in one day with a dawn start time, I was working as a production assistant helping out with the constant bumping in and out that comes with shooting at five different locations. The Snowy Hydro, call centre and construction site footage were all shot non-locally so I wasn't involved in that element of the production.
The shoot started at a small farm for a dawn call time, it was still raining from the night before so protecting the equipment was the most important job, the grip set up a large diffusion panel above the camera to keep the crew dry. As it began to dry up we shot the footage we needed and moved to the next site. The family shot was on a quiet street, there was still a lot of water on the ground so ensuring the electricity for the lighting was safe.
Set up at the school library was relatively quick so we had time to prep the frame by arranging the furniture to make sure the composition was clean but still engaging. The most interesting set was the hospital bed with the nurse where we actually shot inside the Toybox Films office against a wall, with a curtain in place and a set of blinds attached to a diffused light panel to emulate an overexposed window.
The day ended at McDonald Jones Stadium with a piece to camera from former Knights hooker Danny Buderus. Set up took the longest of all locations as we needed to set up a dolly system for the push in movement with the camera. Dolly tracks are the truest test of how level a floor is and we spent a good amount of time levelling out those tracks. When it came time to roll I operated the boom pole to capture Danny Buderus' lines, keeping out of the frame takes some getting used to when the camera is moving behind you, but at the end of the day we managed to pull it off.
Director - Brian J. Breheny ACS
Producer - Glenn Cogan
DOP - Aaron Haberfield
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